Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

http://mentalfloss.com/us/go/68768

WTF? I guess I just always took for granted that parents could name their children whatever they decided. Then I heard some countries make certain names illegal.

At first I just figured it would be some third world hellhole oppressed under a twisted theocracy banning non-religious names. But nope.

Iceland and France especially. Lol, seriously?

In a world where people seriously name their kid "anal" and "Robocop", banning some names seems like a very, very good idea to me.

Or in Japan, where you have to choose a name from a list. There are only a few thousand on it. Some people need a smack on the head when they come up with their child's name.

So... can I name my child Immortan, and change my last name to Joe?

 Sigvatr wrote:
In a world where people seriously name their kid "anal" and "Robocop", banning some names seems like a very, very good idea to me.

This. Gennah Tyles, Orgasm, Fonda Cox, and Abstinence also agree that this is a good idea.

K.

What about France, where they can ban you from taking a perfectly legitimate name because they think kids could turn it into something to make fun of?

That seems like a pretty ludicrous level of government control in your life...

some people do need a list of what not to name your kid.

normal names fine, calling your child pebble, apple etc. nope.

 Jimsolo wrote:
K.

What about France, where they can ban you from taking a perfectly legitimate name because they think kids could turn it into something to make fun of?

That seems like a pretty ludicrous level of government control in your life...

Any examples? Nutella and Fraise (Strawberry) are hardly perfectly legitimate names, IMHO.

Also, in most countries you can change your name once you're an adult, so it's not really a ludicrous level of government control in your life.

I have a niece who was born a few years before the recent events in the middle east. And her name is Isis. Whoops.

 Jimsolo wrote:
K.

What about France, where they can ban you from taking a perfectly legitimate name because they think kids could turn it into something to make fun of?

That seems like a pretty ludicrous level of government control in your life...

Examples?

 curran12 wrote:
I have a niece who was born a few years before the recent events in the middle east. And her name is Isis. Whoops.

Now there's no way to proof against that. If you happened to name your kid Elsa before Frozen, it's too late. But if you name your kid Handsome Vag (actual kid's first and middle name) you knew what you were doing to the poor boy.

 curran12 wrote:
I have a niece who was born a few years before the recent events in the middle east. And her name is Isis. Whoops.

that was a legitimate name long before events in the middle east, Egyptian and rather old. just bad luck they happened to take the same one.

Now if you where going with that now, and knew about the middle east, you would probbly want to have a chat with them as ask are you sure you want to go through with this and it implication. those already called it, that you cannot do much about.

I think I'm gonna name my firstborn male Handsome Jack (first and middle).

 jhe90 wrote:

 curran12 wrote:
I have a niece who was born a few years before the recent events in the middle east. And her name is Isis. Whoops.

that was a legitimate name long before events in the middle east, Egyptian and rather old. just bad luck they happened to take the same one.

Now if you where going with that now, and knew about the middle east, you would probbly want to have a chat with them as ask are you sure you want to go through with this and it implication. those already called it, that you cannot do much about.

Hence why a lot of people call them ISIL.

It could be worse, you could have an ISIS tattoo.....

I know (more than one, actually) woman named Strawberry. How is that unreasonable? And the reason the judge gave? It sounds too much like another word? That's insane!

Nutella is weird, sure, but no weirder than Zaxyn, Dorcas, Jedidiah, Khaleesi, or dozens of other names people give their babies with no problem.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I think I'm gonna name my firstborn male Handsome Jack (first and middle).

My wife works...well, she works in a business where she processes people's paperwork all day. She has run into a child whose middle name is Petethedragonslayer.

Another one from her files of madness: a man named John Smith (no middle name), who had twin sons, named John Smith and John Smith. Needless to say, they had some paperwork snafus trying to sort their forms all out...

A pet hate of mine is people using surnames as first names.
Especially stuff like McKenna or something, since it tends to be a girl's name which looks stupid to me because the prefix Mc comes from the gaelic mac which means "son of" (for women, it should be ní, for daughter of). So you get a girl whose name means "Son of Kenna" (also, yes, McNuggets are "Chicken, Son of Nugget").

My surname is Kennedy, which some people use as a first name for their kids, and it baffles me. [/weird rant]

 welshhoppo wrote:
Or in Japan, where you have to choose a name from a list. There are only a few thousand on it. Some people need a smack on the head when they come up with their child's name.

It's not quite as bad as that. Some foreign names cannot be transliterated into Japanese due to differences in the sounds in the language.

Perhaps it is socially acceptable in the USA to name your child "witch witch witch witch witch witch witch witch witch gakker gak Face"? Not sure if it is a common name...

Common, no. But illegal? Also no. (At least to my knowledge.)

Plus, that name is quite another story from 'Strawberry,' or 'Sara.'

In certain parts of the US, babies have to have their father's last name.

 Jimsolo wrote:
K.

What about France, where they can ban you from taking a perfectly legitimate name because they think kids could turn it into something to make fun of?

That seems like a pretty ludicrous level of government control in your life...

No, that's a perfectly reasonable level of government control of how much they allow you to screw up your children's life or the sake of something that you found amusing when you were drunk, and that the poor bloody child is going to have to actually live with.

Your life isn't the issue.

One of the care takers at gw HQ has genuinely named his youngest Ferrus Manus...

In NZ there are a lot of laws around what you can name a child. When my 5th sibling was born I read through the laws and it basically says:

No stupid names (seaborne rust)
They must be pronounceable (nhijflickdfr)
Not offensive
Cannot be more than 100 characters
Cannot have titles or ranks even if misspelled

If your name is within the criteria above it gets rejected and you cannot register the baby until you have a passing name. It is likely the vast majority of countries have these rules and they make perfect sense. Nobody is going to hire a "Ser-Peanutbutt" nor is anyone gonna take that person seriously.

Meh, Im still naming My Kid Sanquinor

 Swastakowey wrote:
In NZ there are a lot of laws around what you can name a child. When my 5th sibling was born I read through the laws and it basically says:

No stupid names (seaborne rust)
They must be pronounceable (nhijflickdfr)
Not offensive
Cannot be more than 100 characters
Cannot have titles or ranks even if misspelled

If your name is within the criteria above it gets rejected and you cannot register the baby until you have a passing name. It is likely the vast majority of countries have these rules and they make perfect sense. Nobody is going to hire a "Ser-Peanutbutt" nor is anyone gonna take that person seriously.

What happens if you have an unregistered baby? Do the Sandmen come?

skyth wrote:In certain parts of the US, babies have to have their father's last name.

Do you have a source on that? It isn't that I don't believe you, I've just never heard of it and would like to learn the specifics.

Frazzled wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
In NZ there are a lot of laws around what you can name a child. When my 5th sibling was born I read through the laws and it basically says:

No stupid names (seaborne rust)
They must be pronounceable (nhijflickdfr)
Not offensive
Cannot be more than 100 characters
Cannot have titles or ranks even if misspelled

If your name is within the criteria above it gets rejected and you cannot register the baby until you have a passing name. It is likely the vast majority of countries have these rules and they make perfect sense. Nobody is going to hire a "Ser-Peanutbutt" nor is anyone gonna take that person seriously.

What happens if you have an unregistered baby? Do the Sandmen come?

1) Who defines stupid? Is a religious name no one uses anymore stupid? (There's plenty to pick from)
2) So can they ban names that are Hindi or Arabic or otherwise difficult for the judge to pronounce?
3) Who defines offensive? Naming a child after historical figures could be construed as offensive to groups that figure wronged.
4) I suppose a length limit seems reasonable, if only for processing purposes.
5) Real world or fantasy? (Given that Khaleesi is a for-real name being given these days.)

 Jimsolo wrote:
K.

What about France, where they can ban you from taking a perfectly legitimate name because they think kids could turn it into something to make fun of?

That seems like a pretty ludicrous level of government control in your life...

Considering that studies seem to show a surprisingly strong correlation between "weird" names and a general lack of success in life... granted, it's probably as much to do with poor parenting in general, but the point is, it's the kid's name, not the parent's. The choices you make as a parent should be made for the sake of the kid, not out of the mistaken sense that the parent has the right to control their kid's lives. Parents have the responsibility take care of their kids, not the freedom to potentially ruin their kid's life.

Jimoslo wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
In NZ there are a lot of laws around what you can name a child. When my 5th sibling was born I read through the laws and it basically says:

No stupid names (seaborne rust)
They must be pronounceable (nhijflickdfr)
Not offensive
Cannot be more than 100 characters
Cannot have titles or ranks even if misspelled

If your name is within the criteria above it gets rejected and you cannot register the baby until you have a passing name. It is likely the vast majority of countries have these rules and they make perfect sense. Nobody is going to hire a "Ser-Peanutbutt" nor is anyone gonna take that person seriously.

1) Who defines stupid? Is a religious name no one uses anymore stupid? (There's plenty to pick from)
2) So can they ban names that are Hindi or Arabic or otherwise difficult for the judge to pronounce?
3) Who defines offensive? Naming a child after historical figures could be construed as offensive to groups that figure wronged.
4) I suppose a length limit seems reasonable, if only for processing purposes.
5) Real world or fantasy? (Given that Khaleesi is a for-real name being given these days.)

Stupid? Well of someone named their kid Jabba the Hutt then that would be unanimously considered stupid. Who decides? I don't know but whoever does it in my country does a god job that's for sure. Yet to see a dumb name like Rapter Ruccus or anything.

No... they have to be pronounceable. Can you pronounce "Gtmv"? Then no that cannot be used as a name.

Offensive, well im sure if you named your kid "A Kind Fethwit" then it would be offensive. I think the term used was Obscene language is not ok.

The limit is reasonable for both the child and the government etc. Imagine your little child trying to spell out their 99 character name!

Real world. So no "Doctar Grant" or "Generaal Dylan" etc.

All these rules make perfect sense too, I find it hard to see why you are arguing against some of these.

You didn't really answer the second one; for whom must the name be pronounceable? The parents? The child? The judge? Jim down the road? "Gtmv" is perfectly pronounceable, it's 'GUT-muv', or rather that's what the parents could say. On what basis and in whose opinion is it deemed unpronounceable?

 Avatar 720 wrote:
You didn't really answer the second one; for whom must the name be pronounceable? The parents? The child? The judge? Jim down the road? "Gtmv" is perfectly pronounceable, it's 'GUT-muv', or rather that's what the parents could say. On what basis and in whose opinion is it deemed unpronounceable?

The way you pronounced it is you just trying to make sense of a word with no vowels etc.

Languages are intelligently designed and adhering a name to one of the languages chosen for your child will end up with something pronounceable by the vast majority of normal people.

 Swastakowey wrote:

 Avatar 720 wrote:
You didn't really answer the second one; for whom must the name be pronounceable? The parents? The child? The judge? Jim down the road? "Gtmv" is perfectly pronounceable, it's 'GUT-muv', or rather that's what the parents could say. On what basis and in whose opinion is it deemed unpronounceable?

The way you pronounced it is you just trying to make sense of a word with no vowels etc.

Languages are intelligently designed and adhering a name to one of the languages chosen for your child will end up with something pronounceable by the vast majority of normal people.

A word doesn't have to have vowels for it to be pronounceable. I pronounced the name, therefore it's pronounceable, on who's authority and by what law(s) would it not be?